Do you want to be a “Lone Wolf” or “part of a pack”?

Some lessons are harder for me to learn than others. I was raised with the American ideal of “Rugged Individualism”. Work hard, count on yourself, and get things done. I learned this lesson well, as many who know me will testify. I am not afraid of hard work, know how to do many a varied task, and really have trouble counting on others or asking for help.

Teamwork can get you farther faster.

A friend of mine, Russ Hall (disclaimer: Russ was coaching me at the time), pointed out to me that I clearly understood how teamwork accomplished more than mere “Rugged Individualism” from my time in the army. As a member of the US Army Special Forces I had been selected because I was able to act independently. The Army knew that first you needed soldiers who could be independent, and then they could be trained and combined into high performance teams.

Dependence : Independence : Interdependence

It was Dr. Stephen Covey that first expressed this clearly for me to understand in his seminal work The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In order to be the most effective that you can be, you want to make the most of relationships. In order to make the most of relationships, focus on interdependent ones as opposed to dependent relationships. Interdependence is defined as the paradigm under which we cooperate to achieve something we could not achieve independently.

Clearly independence is important, it is a preliminary step to greater achievement. Once we are able to function independently and achieve goals by ourselves, the next step is to build relationships that afford us even greater achievement.

The answer is Build an Interdependent Pack

By hunting in a pack, these wolves are able to attack a huge bison.

Your pack will help you achieve whatever goals you set. Want more referrals? A team of dedicated professionals that meet for the express purpose of passing referrals can get you more. Who you surround yourself with really does make all the difference between mediocre performance and tremendous success.

2 Comments

Well written. Dr. Covey, RIP, provided some great information in his books about interdependency and the importance of synergy. It is one thing to be independent, but quite another when you recognize the power of combining everyone’s skills and efforts.